Neverwinter Nights : NWN2 wishlist

Obviously, by now we’ve had Neverwinter Nights 2 and Neverwinter On-line and more, but I wrote this back in 2005, so:

Neverwinter Nights II

The next release is a good year away, but in advance, here’s the start of my ‘wishlist’ for it…

Containers

More, better, containers:

A (hefty) tome for wizards spells
Waterproof leather scroll cases for scrolls and letters
Velvet pouch for gems.
Keyrings and so forth.

One thing I’d really like to see is a ‘Bag of Holding that works like the merchants stores. So much easier to organise everything. Plus, the way the bags work at present isn’t actually played by the rules. They are supposed to open into a nondimensional space of fixed volume and capacity.

‘Bag 1’ has a weight limit of 250lb, but 30 cubic feet volume
‘Bag 4’ allows up to 1,500lb of material and 250 cubic feet for packrats to clutter (that’s 6’4″ a side, roughly)

Given everything already has a weight (if not an encumberance) I personally see no reason it can’t be done this way. Thus a small bag of holding will, at best, allow three full sets of armour (with helm, gauntlets and boots), but an effectively unlimited number of potions, gems and scrolls.

Proficiency skills and components

It REALLY annoys me that incredibly hard to obtain items like the dying breath of a dragon sell for a mere 1 gp. I’ll like to see realistic, commensurate prices for spell components such as Slaad tongue. I strongly feel that while the items can be bought from or sold to suitable alchemist merchants, you should be skilled to harvest them.

The earlier Dungeons and Dragons allowed for proficencies like ‘herb lore’ but there’s no reason the ‘Knowledge’ skill can’t be used. It already ready allows for Arcana and Nature and, as the (3e) Players handbook says, With your DM’s approval, you can invent new areas of knowledge

If they could be perishable (without a preserve spell, so much the better)

… Crafting and creating (epic) magic items

Like, I assume, a great many others, I’d like to see the option to create magic items. The Epic levels handbook has a whole chapter on the subject, so it’s not like there isn’t a precedent.

As a basic, you see ‘craft weapon / armor’ as a prerequisite to the necessary ‘craft magic arms and armor’, itself needed for ‘craft epic magic arms and armor’

True, something like this will be infinitely more valuable in the likes of the upcoming* Dungeons & Dragons Online, but still nice to see. The underlying code is there from Rizolvir, I imagine.

… wears my armour!?

(Pun intended)

Figuring in encumbrance and racial size would be great too. An Elf shouldn’t be able to don a dwarven platemail (artifact), no matter how high their ‘use magic device’ proficiency, hmmm. There really should be a basic check that a six foot half-orc can’t just slip into the diminutive halfling chainmail. The Hordes does actually point the way to this by offering Merkil’s Plate (Dwarven) and the larger ‘Searing Armor’ for humans and the like.

Ummm…

I cast ‘continual light’ on my Epic Cloak of Stealth, embed a ‘light gem’ in my blackened dagger, then effortlessly fade into the shadows – despite the fact I’m lit up like a christmas tree and am giving the cloaked Drow archers all the time in the world to make ‘called shots’ to my soft spots!